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Month: April 2017

While last season of Homeland seemed to try and push all mention of home life and children to the side so Carrie could live her exciting life as a station chief in the middle of a war zone, season five is pushing the exact opposite agenda. Now that Carrie has flipped her switch from an emotionally turned off, hesitant mother to a figure of devout maternity, every fiber of the Homeland narrative in the first episodes of season five seems to be driving home just how much Carrie’s role as a mother is raising the stakes.

As my readers probably know by now, this is not my first time through Homeland. I think it is always interesting as a media scholar to return to something you once watched and attempt to think through the material using a more critical eye. One of the more harrowing scenes to experience in season four Homeland is Fara’s death at the hands of Haqqani. There was a part of me that wondered, not only this time through watching but also the first, whether Fara’s death is meant to be seen as symbolic. Why would a character that arguably rounded out the Homeland cast for the better be written out?

I think that most would agree that the fourth season of Homeland has felt quite different from the other seasons. We are down a main character (i.e. Brody), much of the action is taking place in the Middle East, and, by far, one of the biggest changes of the season comes in the form of Carrie’s characterization. Many of my classmates argued last week that Carrie’s characterization in the beginning of the fourth season is highly troubling and it was hard for them to sympathize with her or to forgive her for her apathetic parenting or asserting her power (via sex) Carrie Pakistan situation roomover a much younger man

In my last post, I was very interested in the way that Carrie was being portrayed as a mother and would like to continue with and elaborate on this topic. The first two episodes of season four deal quite directly with Carrie’s new reality as a “mother” and the way in which she is choosing to deal with this life change. Unfortunately for Carrie, and perhaps even her daughter, Carrie continues both be pressured into and pushing against the role of motherhood.